Rob Bell Interview at Christianity Today

Pastor Scott Griese — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 12:21:01 +0000

The following is from an interview of Rob Bell posted online by Christianity Today. My comments will be in bold italics. The link to the interview is at the bottom.

The Giant Story

Rob Bell on why he talks about the Good News the way he does.

Interview by Mark Galli | posted 4/22/2009 09:01AM

Rob Bell’s latest book, Jesus Wants to Save Christians (Zondervan, with Don Golden), is his most substantive yet. It’s nothing less than a holistic, biblical theology of salvation—written, paradoxically, in Bell’s typical sentence-fragment style. CT senior managing editor Mark Galli sat down with Bell, founding pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, to probe him on some of the more striking statements in his book.

You say that “something has gone terribly wrong with humanity.” What do you mean?

I was born in 1970, a child of the Enlightenment. We put someone on the moon. We’ll figure out cancer soon enough. Look what we can do. And yet more people than ever have died in the last 100 years from bombs. So, we have been taught, give Steve Jobs enough time, and he’ll come up with something.

At the same time, Rwanda, 1994—we didn’t step in there. Then Darfur—didn’t we learn? So we have this profound sense of empowerment coupled with a profound sense of disempowerment, and I think you have a lot of people with a profound sense of angst.

Note the mentions of Rwanda and Darfur. In both cases, America was sending food and medical supplies, but there were major problems with the dictatorships there. My impression here is that Rob Bell would have liked to have seen the U.S. step in with our military. I agree that we should have.

As for his last sentence, that it really mean anything? If anything, this country has a profound sense of apathy toward anything that it is not interested in. People came out of the social experiment of the Sixties and discovered that sex, drugs, and rock ‘n roll did not solve anything. Because they had already turned away from God and did not turn back, Americans have become apathetic to anything that does not affect their personal comfort.

Are you a pacifist, or do you think that a truly Christian church has to be a pacifist church?

My dad is a U.S. Federal District Judge and gets lots of death threats. On Father’s Day a couple of years ago, there were bodyguards in the driveway at our house. And I am okay with that. But I sit right in that tension. Sometimes people say no police, no armed forces, no anything. And the truth is, whether I am falling short of Jesus’ teaching or not, there are situations where I am really glad that there is a policeman standing right there and that he has a gun. So I don’t know how exactly you work that out in detail.

But my hope would be that as a Christian, you would have a larger imagination. Take Saddam Hussein. Your first impulse would be, “Man, if he wasn’t in power, it would be great—and the only way is to bring in a hundred thousand troops.” To me, the third way of Jesus is always asking if there is an imaginative, subversive, brilliant, creative path.

Here it would appear that Rob Bell would have rather that we did not step in with our military in Iraq. The dictatorship of Hussein was just as evil and potentially more destructive to the world. Why didn’t Rob Bell want the “the third way of Jesus Christ” to be used in Rwanda and Darfur? “Blessed are the peacemakers” sometimes means that the peacemaker has to carry a gun as Rob Bell showed us while talking about the threats to his father.

To be continued.

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2009/april/26.34.html

Comparing Jesus Christ

Pastor Scott Griese — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 01:24:15 +0000

This letter to the editor appeared in the Syracuse Post-Standard on October 12, 2009. I am typing out the whole letter, but leaving out the writer’s name.

To The Editor:

It appears to us that today’s Pharisees differ little from the Pharisees of yesteryear. Persecution of Christ, persecution of our President Obama.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall inherit the Earth.” May we strive at least to be at peace with each other.

Now, the first question that comes to mind is: what is a Pharisee? The Pharisees of the time of Jesus Christ were the Jewish religious leaders. The Pharisees were strict followers of the Law and often went beyond what the Law mandated. They also tended to demand more of other Jews than what they themselves were willing to do. The Pharisees saw God as a taskmaster — not loving — and felt that keeping the Law was what was important. In other words, their motivation was wrong: they should have been keeping the Law because they loved God, not because they wanted to appear holier than others.

Matthew 23:1-7 Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples, (2) Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat: (3) All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not. (4) For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. (5) But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments, (6) And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, (7) And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi.

Now I am not sure exactly who the letter writers are referring to when they discuss “today’s Pharisees.” There have been extremely few public religious figures that have spoken out against President Obama. Perhaps the letter writers are referring to the conservative talk show hosts such as Rush Limbaugh and Glen Beck or maybe the leadership in the GOP. And perhaps they are referring to President Obama’s recently awarded Nobel Peace Prize. Personally, I am guessing President Obama won the prize as a symbol, not for any accomplishment. Please read:

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2009/10/09/tommy-seno-obama-nobel-prize-win/

Truly what bothers me about the letter is the comparison of Barack Obama to Jesus Christ. That comparison has been made by many people ever since President Obama entered the presidential race. Louis Farrakhan called Barack Obama “the Saviour” back in 2008. I quote:

Addressing a large crowd behind a podium Feb. 24 with a Nation of Islam Saviour’s Day 2008 sign, Farrakhan proclaims,

“You are the instruments that God is going to use to bring about universal change, and that is why Barack has captured the youth. And he has involved young people in a political process that they didn’t care anything about. That’s a sign. When the Messiah speaks, the youth will hear, and the Messiah is absolutely speaking.”

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=77539

This painting was going to be unveiled.

To compare President Obama to Jesus Christ is blasphemous. The “persecution” that President Obama has had is nothing — in fact, less than nothing — compared to what Jesus Christ endured before His crucifixion. Physically, Jesus Christ was beaten, spat upon, scourged, and had His beard plucked and then forced to carry his cross to Calvary. There He was nailed to the cross and gave up His life. Spiritually, the suffering He bore was even worse as He had the sins of the world placed upon Him. Jesus Christ died for the ungodly, so they can be reconciled with God the Father. He is the Saviour for those that come to Him in faith and trust in Him and have repented of their sin.

Romans 5:6-10 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. (7) For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. (8) But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (9) Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. (10) For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

There is simply no comparison between Barack Obama and Jesus Christ. AND when you consider President Obama’s position on abortion, you cannot compare the two.

Lastly, the Bible verse the letter writers used is really a mixture of two verses. The correct verse is:

Matthew 5:9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.

What peace has Obama made? If anything, he has worked against the cause of peace with his efforts against Israel.

The other verse they mixed in is:

Mat 5:5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

President Obama is anything but meek.

First Baptist Church in Fernwood, NY » peacemakers

Rob Bell Interview at Christianity Today

Comparing Jesus Christ